Sold! (Almost)

by Ed Rozmiarek
Sold!, well, not quite, but close. Close enough for our agent to put the sold sign on the for sale sign in the yard. Close enough for us not to have a showing in the past two weeks and I don’t expect any this weekend.

We have had no problems with the contract or related stuff. We have had the inspection items taken care of without too much layout of additional cash. The last major hurdle is that the our buyers still need to close on their house they are selling. That is scheduled for Monday. We have heard nothing about that falling through so assuming that happens we should be all set to close on the sale of our house May 2. After that we get to move on to arranging the actual moving of our stuff. More headaches but getting closer to having the whole process behind us.

Tiling

by Ed Rozmiarek
The progress on the house continues, but just not fast enough for our desires. Every week I expect the pace to pick up and have several things be completed, but it was not to be this week. However, what did get done was good progress. This week the tile layers had been hard at work. After doing over 450 square feet of tile in our current house, I can appreciate the amount of work it takes to lay tile and I was surprised by the amount of tile they got down in a week. Just goes to show that a team of professionals is much faster than a weekend warrior.

When we got to the house is was locked up so no one could get in. We knew this was going to happen and started looking for the lock box with the key. I was expecting it to be like one of the ones a real estate person uses (the one that hang on the door handle). Well, none of the exterior doors had handles, they just had deadbolts. After five minutes of looking around and thinking that we may not get in, we found the lock box and was able to get in.

We found that the tile for the entry way, dining room, kitchen and utility room had been completed. In fact, the tile was still wet from being sealed that morning (or so it appeared) so we did not want to walk on the tile. The tile for the boys’ bathroom was done as well. The master bathroom tile was mostly done with the floor and shower done, but the wall tile above the tub was not complete yet. I would think that the master bathroom tile would be finished this week. If the counter tops are installed, I would think that the kitchen backsplash will also be done this week.

Master bathroom tile

Master shower

The sale of our current house is progressing as well with no major hiccups. The buyers had our house inspected on Tuesday with the usual list of minor issues pointed out. There were a couple bigger issues that the buyers wanted done. Nothing major. We had one item taken care of by the end of the week and I spent a few hours on Sunday fixing a few others. The last one should be taken care of this week. The last major potential stumbling block is the buyers selling their house. They close next Monday so that should be out of the way soon. Our agent was confident enough to place the “Sold” sign on the For Sale sign in the yard.

More pictures of the tiling can be found in the house photo album.

Bluebonnets

by Ed Rozmiarek
Time for a non-new house entry. Spring time in Texas means one thing, Bluebonnets. The flowers this season seems to be a little sparse compared to the last couple of years. However, there was a nice field of wildflowers across the street from where Kevin was playing soccer today. I had to wander over to snap a few pictures. Here are a few.

Bluebonnets	Bluebonnets
Bluebonnets	Indian paintbrushes

The others can be found in our Family photo album. Enjoy.

Contract pending

by Ed Rozmiarek
Hoody Hoo! We've got a contract on the house!

Things are really starting to fall into place. A major concern for us is about to be wiped off the map. This past Saturday a couple placed a bid on our current house. After reviewing it with our agent, we made a couple minor changes and send it back to the buyers. They accepted our changes and the contact is in place.

Everything came together late last week. On Thursday we had two showings of the house, both of them second showings. The first couple had first seen the house a couple weeks ago. The other couple had seen the house on Monday. We knew both couples were interested because they both asked for the disclosure information.

On Friday we got the first offer, or at least part of it. The first couple wanted our house but wanted to close and take ownership in just over two weeks. After talking it over, Susan and I did not want the stress of moving twice and having to find temporary housing so we told them no without hearing the dollar offer.

Saturday morning we got a call from our agent. It turns out the couple spent Friday afternoon looking at houses and could not find anything they wanted. The couple was willing to buy our house and let us lease back until our new house was done. The dollar figure was a little lower than what we were asking but within our acceptable range. As I said earlier, we made a couple minor changes to the offer and sent it back. This morning we found out that the couple had accepted the changes and the deal was on. In fact, the buyers have already scheduled the inspection for Tuesday.

What about the second couple that was interested? Our agent called their agent Saturday before sending the first offer back. The second couple also wanted the house but they could not beat the price offered by the first couple. We were hoping for a bidding war, but it was not to be. No major loss as we are pretty happy with the offer we got.

In theory the deal can fall through so we have to keep showing the house (in fact we had one today). However, I get the sense they really want the house. The major stumbling blocks could be the inspection and the sale of the buyers' house. I don't think the inspection will turn up anything major as the house is in good shape. The buyers are selling their house in two weeks so we should know really soon if that were to fall through.

Painting the shack

by Ed Rozmiarek
Due to the living room beams being installed on Monday and some questions about the tile, we had to make a couple of extra trips to the house this week. Therefore, we kind of knew what to expect this weekend during out regular visit but we wanted to go out anyway.

The main feature to note this week is the painting, which was complete by Saturday. I wasn’t sure they could paint the interior in one week, but they did, including staining all of the cabinets. At first glance, they seem to have done a good job. There were a couple of spots that will need to be touched up, but no major problems that I could see. They also got the garage doors painted. Oh yea, the garage doors were installed this week.

In talking with our builder today (Monday), things should be picking up and not be so single threaded. The tiling should start in a day or two and the counter tops should be going in soon. We also got some good news on the septic system. After the tests, turns out we have an easy site to dig, install and operate so we should actually come in “significantly” under budget. Not sure how much, but it should help us recover from some of the overages in other areas and/or allow us to install a better driveway.

Stained kitchen cabinets

Painted dining room

In a continuing effort to tie up the loose ends, Susan and I went to the builder’s hardware supplier and made the final decisions for the bathroom hardware (towel racks and such). We also stopped by Lowe’s and bought the ceiling fans (we didn’t find anything we liked and the lighting store several weeks ago).

As always, you can see additional pictures from this week’s visit in the house photo album. There is a view of an interior door (yes, I know that’s really exciting), other views of the cabinets and a view of exterior with the garage doors.